Begich Pulls Ahead of Stevens in Latest Vote Count!

The word is that the Division of Elections decided not to keep releasing new numbers as they became available throughout the day, to save people’s nerves. It didn’t work. The lack of information between 3:30 and when the final numbers came in at 8:30, was nerve-wracking to say the least.

Alaska bloggers, journalists, and campaign workers have been chewing their nails down to the stubs. My activities for the evening consisted of pacing around and hitting ‘refresh’ every 30 seconds. There are a LOT of 30 second intervals between 3:30 and 8:30.

Tens of thousands of votes have yet to be counted before the vote is certified. But this batch gives us a clear indication of a trend. Begich increased his numbers by a relative 4000+ votes, and took traditionally conservative districts in Anchorage’s affluent “Hillside” area.

As we move forward, Alaska’s “reddest” areas have already been counted. Those outstanding districts are mainly rural and tend to go Democratic. Friday will see more than 20,000 “question ballots” (provisional ballots) counted, and the remaining absentee ballots are slated to be counted Monday.

SWWNBN will be pissed if the senate is off her dance card. She was SO getteen’ in there with the senators and makeen’ good policy changes ……

Mayor
O&G Commissioner
Governor
Senator
Irresistible!😉

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DHomer(20:35:27) :

Looks very promising. I have had several old timers tell me that who ever wins the bush, wins the election. Looks like that may be the case here, as Begich won in just about every area including the bush.

Here’s to hoping!!!!!!

If he wins I will have re-gained a respect for the state, albeit barely…

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Deborah(20:35:53) :

buh bye, sarah. we in the lower 48 knew thee for too long.

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JBDC(20:37:22) :

excellent! keep the votes comin’!! (then send a little of that mojo down to Al Franken)–

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impeach wassila de vil(20:39:42) :

kick the bum out. if alaska doesn’t, the senate will.

palin will never be on a national ticket again. her 15 minutes are getting close to the end.

Well I must say I can’t wait until Friday…… That should just about finish this I hope…. Hmmmm better light a BLUE candle….. Seems to be working

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Enjay in Eastern MT(20:41:28) :

Believe there is an echo in here —

Doin’ a SHOUT OUT to Mark Begich

GO BEGICH!!!

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SMG - MN(20:41:59) :

Sorry for re-posting, but I missed the new thread, so here goes again…

Finally I belong!!! I’m so excited. (Personally, I thought that “Grammar Slut” was pretty funny. Or we could be the four grammar “mooseketeers.”
GO BEGICH (and Franken, too, I hope). Asiangirl, you’re in the Twin Cities too?

That is great news! The last we heard it was +3 from a very excited Keith Olbermann.

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Aussie Blue Sky(20:43:44) :

Palin recommends GOP female

MIAMI (AP) – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who clearly is looking ahead to her political prospects in 2012, said Wednesday that a woman would be good for the Republican presidential ticket in four years.

This year’s GOP vice presidential nominee has been on a whirlwind series of postelection television interviews — she is slated for two on CNN on Wednesday. She traveled to Florida for the three–day Republican Governors Association meeting and is scheduled to participate in a panel discussion Thursday titled, “Looking Towards the Future: The GOP in Transition.”

She was asked Wednesday about speculation that she is the party’s future.

“I don’t think it’s me personally, I think it’s what I represent,” Palin told reporters. “Everyday hardworking American families — a woman on the ticket perhaps represents that. It would be good for the ticket. It would be good for the party. I would be happy to get to do whatever is asked of me to help progress this nation.”

I’m sure SP would love to appoint a national Board of Game. Get those denning wolf pups nationwide!! Get those leg traps out on all hiking trails!!

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Shikago aka Chief Shikago(20:45:04) :

Go AK!!!

Welcome SMG – MN

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ENOUGHwiththetrainwreck(20:45:21) :

a win for Begich will simplify things a bit there in Alaska……….and i send my hopes and prayers as well for a successful end to this incredibly important senate race.

next on the to-do list?

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asiangrrl"Yes we DID"MN(20:46:00) :

SMG-MN, I posted a response to you on the old thread. I am too lazy to carry it over.

mhrt oregon, if we get all three seats that are still being contested (MN, AK, and GA) plus…Sanders, the independent guy, we have fifty-nine. Do you know who that leaves? Joe the Traitor Lieberman. Gah.

Go, Begich! You can do it! Make sure Stevens is out and La Palin cannot be in the senate!

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mudslide pike(20:46:03) :

If Palin wants to help she needs a speech class, a voice coach and about 10 years of schooling!!!!

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teri(20:47:07) :

UPDATE (I have these coming into my yahoo messenger. But just a min ago, I got this info. It says Mark Begich leads by 814 votes. Then I opened it and it said 3 votes, I wonder why IM getting 2 numbers.

Aussie Blue Sky, this comment burns me the most. Well, in the top five, anyway. What the ____ has she ever done for women? Everything she pushes is at the expense of women. She said that she was going to call Senator Clinton to congratulate her (Clinton) on how much she has advanced the cause of women. WTF? Palin called Clinton a whiner during the primaries.

Aaaaaaah! Canadian Neighbour, I forgot to buy the marshmallows, so what else can I throw??????

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lauren in SD(20:49:53) :

I truly hope that you have deliverance from this election debacle in Alaska!

What truly magnificent Alaskan citizens have surfaced with this election!

Now, down to business. When is this endless tape loop going to stop??? Being the masochist that I am, I’ve listened to all of the Palin interviews. REGURGITATE, REGURGITATE, REGURGITATE!!! Doesn’t she realize that she’s not on the stump any longer? Never mind. Stupid question.

Sweet dreams, SD. You all worked very hard out there and did a great job in 2008!

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Shikago aka Chief Shikago(20:52:33) :

Caregiver duty calls. bbl I hope.

“I would be happy to get to do whatever is asked of me to help progress this nation”

Hmmm, guess my english is not too bad.

And as Moe would say “Lady, you must be psychic” As a pie drops from the ceiling.

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asiangrrl"Yes we DID"MN(20:52:36) :

lauren in SD, welcome, and good night.

Northern Exposure, yeah, despite Palin not because of her, we will keep on marching and rising. Gr.

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Enjay in Eastern MT(20:53:01) :

Unbuttered Popcorn works when throwing at TV or Monitors —

Helps if has dog that likes to eat popcorn!

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Melody, Oregon(20:55:01) :

Mudslide pike – I salute your optimism, though I think it will take more than a speech class, a voice coach, and any amount of schooling to make our Sarah fit to serve.

Picking up from the last thread, re: Grammar Witch v. Slut – I’m good with both.

Also, too, a shout-out to a person on the last thread who described Palin’s output as “word salad.”

Indeed, La Palin is a veritable Salad Shooter of Verbiage.

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strangelet(20:55:11) :

This is terrific news. We can hope that the margin will increase enough that a recount becomes a bad idea for Ted, and he can “be gracious”.

So why was the polling so wrong about Ethan? AK Dems need to figure this out. I’m not suggesting fraud — I have no idea what’s up. But the discrepancy between the polls and the apparent results is HUGE.

I’ve seen comments at the ADN that Alaskans just won’t vote for an effete snob from the Bay Area [hasn’t he lived in AK for 15 or 20 years?], but then why would they tell pollsters they were going to vote for him?

Seems like an important area of research, to prepare for the future.

Go Begich! A win here would be [Begin Palin-style sports analogy] a split-finger fastball right down Sarah’s throat [end analogy].

I’ve grown tired of the person we’ve grown to love and adore, known affectionately as Barbie Grifter, among many other terms of endearment.

While there are those who feel she’s not qualified, you should stop saying such drivel. What people don’t understand is sometimes, you need someone well below average to appeal to those who’s IQ is so low, they can feel a common bond. What exactly would a plumber, for example feel in common with a Harvard Lawyer? Unless said plumber committed murder and wanted a Harvard Criminal Defense Lawyer to represent him?

Being smart is just plain bad, according to Barbie. People don’t trust smart people, they prefer people who can talk for an hour without ever saying anything. That’s a talent one can take to the bank, dontcha know?

Having no interest in reading, means she won’t have to bother with all those complex reams of paper that always waste the time of our Presidents. She’ll have someone read them for her, so she’d not be bothered, and get the important 2-3 points and decide if those bills are good progress forwarding or bad holdbacking that would impede Gods will on the greatness of America.

Clearly, we’re ready for a lunatic fringe Evangelical Born-Again, Christian for Jesus, who talks to God, directly. She can use the power of God to make sure she’s able to make important descisions that will be Gods will. Except for that minor thing in the Constitution about separation of Church and State, which is really not very important anyway.

My feeling is we should all shussh and let Barbie Grift her way across the Media Landscape and let her talk some and often. The people will learn to love the circles, without end or answer and those so hypnotized by her rapid eye-blinking will find their candidate. Fortunately, there are only 348,934 of them in the entire United States.

Intelligent people like Mit Romney would never have a chance debating the Queen of Circle Talk. From question to question, Mit would answer, correctly and intelligently, and after Barbie’s non-sequiters, incorrect nothing answers, she’d come out clearly ahead in the winners circle.

Lets all root for Barbie 2012 and hope she does lots of book learnin, and moose eatin. And oh gosh darn it, Obama won’t even bother to run in 2012 just because of fear.

AKM, you won’t have fingers or toes left after all this is said and done. That’s not so good. Could you chew pencils instead and wear those little heat packs in your boots?

@ asiangrrl & SMG-MN:
I’m a branded and despised Spell Nazi and have learned to keep my lectures mostly in the closet for the sake of peace, but look out for the occasional moment of weakness when I joyfully join you in the grammar fracas :o) Also.

““““““““
TY Rondo –
knew it was coming up – just couldn’t remember when…..
Do believe my “sun-downer” is kicking in –
after watching Palin on Larry King

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strangelet(21:05:33) :

SMG – MN (20:57:16) :
You use HTML “tags”, some of which are shown just above the comment box.

To bold, for example, you type ““, without the quotation marks. Everything after that will be bold. To turn OFF the bold, you type “” without the quotation marks. I have to use the quotes, because otherwise it would just bold everything between “” and ““.

Strangelet, it’s not showing. My own explanation would include a whole lot of “then you put this hooky thing and a leaning pole” and things like that, so I wouldn’t be helping much. You try again :o)

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El from Saskatchewan(21:09:48) :

I think Sarah will soon settle down in Alaska and slowly fade into the sunset. One thing that kept her on the stage now was the Governor’s meeting. That meant she could travel at Alaska’s expense and do interviews. She won’t have that opportunity too many times in the future. She sure won’t spend too much of her own cash. And the reporters coming to Alaska I imagine has ended.

As mudflatters and friends in Alaska keep the “gates” open, she will be busy defending herself. She really does have a lot of work for Alaskans and that has been exposed in the MSM. The rest of us will be here for support and to help in any way we can. She’s toast!

sorry about the new post alert above …in my haste to alert everyone on the last post….duuu I went to the wrong post sorry…but every one is here…..

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strangelet(21:12:29) :

SMG-MN

My apologies. The use of quotes didn’t do what I expected. Ignore my previous comment.

To turn on bold, you type three characters: “” but without any “, and with the characters right next to each other. To turn bold OFF, you type four characters: “” , again without any ” and with the four characters touching.

After much thought I have decided to divorce the Palins and adopt myself to mudflats. The very idea of being related to the Palins gives me hives. So I am trying my new name to make sure I am not rejected.

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Canadian Neighbour(21:21:20) :

SMG,
That was my thought too — she’s still in ‘campaign mode’ about Ayres yet in the next breath offering her help to Obama to share JM’s & her ideas to help — (Thanks, but no thanks!). She still honing her skills (nails) believing she has a campaign in her near future — NOT!! To still be saying JM is the best man for the job — Hello — Knock, Knock — YOU LOST. It’s finished — fine — That’s All Folks as Bugs Bunny would say!!

The only difference I did notice was a few of the media seemed to get it tonight. After listening to some of her answers, they realized she has said nothing. So, maybe her continued talking in a condensed time frame will pay off and they will finally come to their senses and see the honeymoon is over and quite persuing her. It is drawing out negative responses from some of the other governors at the conference. Should be interesting to see how flat she falls tomorrow as she is supposed to speak I believe. I can hear it now — she gives her stump speech!!

There is a character on your keyboard that in math symbolizes less-than, and is also sometimes called a left bracket. Maybe it will print as .

Call this one GT (for greater than).

Yet another character is the backslash, possibly /, where the top of the slash is to the right of the bottom. Call this “Backslash”.

To control bold, you also have to use the character b. To turn on bold, you enter three characters: LT b GT, but with no space between them. To turn bold back off, you type four characters, again with no space betweent them: LT backslash b GT.

If you use i instead of b, it turns italic on and off.

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lauren in SD(21:26:51) :

Thank you for your comments fellow AKM’S!

This little wench has not followed her sleep fairy to bed, yet! I am still waiting for results.

I really treasure you all. I raised my kids in Fargo-Moorhead where I schooled. (Concordia College) Cousin of St. Olaf. Betty White. You get it! .. but I lived in Florida for 23 years. So a “You all” creeps in.

We are Lutheran Bible boppers and sure as hell don’t sound like Sarah-Cakes! Actually, we don’t sound like anything remotely related to the movie “Fargo”
We are just goofy. And I mean that in a tri-university intellectual way. But this stuff with Sarah is scary. No thinking person would ever utter that crap. Moreover, no thinking journalist would try to put a spin on that verbiage.

And as for my my alma mater, I think they would put it more delicately.

I don’t subscribe to all that I was fed in my education, but at least I have the forte to know the difference.

Mudslide pike – I salute your optimism, though I think it will take more than a speech class, a voice coach, and any amount of schooling to make our Sarah fit to serve.
—————————————–
Perhaps a bit of electroschock therapy would help.

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patriot games(21:29:11) :

Begich up by over 800!

The only thing to say is, “You Betcha!”

And then rub the salt in the wound, deep and hard. I mean really hard.

“When the Republican Party is no longer the party of fiscal conservatism … then clearly I would argue we’ve lost our way,” Jindal said. “We have to match our actions to our rhetoric.”

and not see that other politicians talk differently than she does?

thanks, strangelet, asiangrrrrrl

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asiangrrl"Yes we DID"MN(21:31:07) :

lauren in SD, I went to St. Olaf! I majored in psychology and had a concentration in Asian Studies.

I read somewhere (can’t remember where, sorry. Maybe Washington Monthly) that we (America) continues to be fascinated by Palin because of how utterly ill-suited she was/is for the job of VP. How could someone that (you fill in the blank) think she should have been on the ticket? It boggles the mind. Or at least, it boggles MY mind.

Hehehe… it just struck me that this obsession with describing how to do html code falls under “intellectual curiosity.” We’re bound and determined to figure out how to get around the code that turns our explanations into the final product.

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strangelet(21:34:41) :

OOOOHHH KAY.

Apparently, WordPress interprets certain characters as HTML whether we want it to or not.

The character that I like to call LT (less than) is two sides of a triangle, joined at a point on the left. On my keyboard, it is the shifted character on the comma key. The GT (greater than) is two side of a triangle that meet at the right, and is the shifted period key. The slash is a diagonal stroke that runs from lower left to upper right. MY LAST COMMENT WAS WRONG ON THIS. We want a slash, not a backslash (too much Microsoft).

With that correction, you turn on bold with “LT b GT” and turn it off with “LT slash b GT”, where there are no spaces between the actual characters you type, and no quote marks.

Italics, just substitute i for b.

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asiangrrl"Yes we DID"MN(21:36:31) :

ira2, that’s a kind way of saying it. For me, it’s obsession. I have this information that someone else wants, and I must give it to her/him right now.

sparkleball, woo-hoo! You go with your bad self. I like your avatar, by the way. It’s very evocative.

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asiangrrl"Yes we DID"MN(21:37:12) :

Of couse, I messed up my closing of the italics because I don’t use them very often. Let’s try underlining. Did that work?

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NMJ(21:37:15) :

SMG – MN (20:57:16) :BTW, how do you do bold in this format? This is all new for me.

SMG, look at the two lines of type just above the comment box. The second-to-the-last html tag consists of a left angle bracket (uppercase comma), a b (for bold), and a right angle bracket (uppercase period).

The b, enclosed by angle brackets, is html code that says where to beginbolding. To stop the bolding, you type the same code, but you add a forward slash (like you see in web addresses – on my laptop, it’s the lowercase question mark; may be different on yours).

You almost always must have both a beginning and ending html code, and the only difference between them is the forward slash, which tells the code where to stop. You do the same thing to italicize, using an i instead of b. It doesn’t matter whether the letters are upper or lower case.

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Canadian Neighbour(21:37:46) :

bold italics together

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jwa - Cheney Hussein Palin(21:38:37) :

I have a vision of the stopwatch on CBS 60 Minutes.

tick. tick. tick. tick. tick. tick. tick. tick.

As Sarah Palin’s time in the spotlight ends (PLEASE!!)

As my wife said tonight while she seemed to be on EVERYTHING – “I’m so tired of hearing her.”

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asiangrrl"Yes we DID"MN(21:38:44) :

Why didn’t my underline work? Does this not take underlining? One more try. Otherwise, strangelet, you’re going to have to tell me why doing the same thing as bold except inserting U doesn’t work.

Asiangrrl, I think you’re right. It’s like staring at a freakish person at whom you don’t want to keep staring but you can’t stop.

There’s a convention in writing, whereby the writer clues in the reader about a character or something that’s about to happen, even as the character doesn’t know. It gives the reader power.

I think we all feel more powerful seeing how brazenly ignorant Palin is.

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Aussie Blue Sky(21:40:55) :

So – what does strong do?

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strangelet(21:41:06) :

Boldlyitalicizing where no manmudpuppy has gone before.

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NMJ(21:41:14) :

asiangrrl”Yes we DID”MN (21:38:44) :Why didn’t my underline work? Does this not take underlining? One more try. Otherwise, strangelet, you’re going to have to tell me why doing the same thing as bold except inserting U doesn’t work.

Look just above the comment box. It says “You can use these tags:” That means no other tags than those listed will work here.

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mudslide pike(21:42:00) :

I ain’t got no time for a has been trying to strech her time by walking over and talkin over everthing in her way!!!!!

Why didn’t my underline work? Does this not take underlining? One more try. Otherwise, strangelet, you’re going to have to tell me why doing the same thing as bold except inserting U doesn’t work.

It’s not in the tags list?

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Susan n TN(21:42:19) :

First time posting here after reading along for many months. Just wanted to tell everyone to see andrewsullivan.com and his blog on the Troopergate II case imploding. Palin evidently purgered herself. Don’t know anything about law but would think someone out there could advise what steps to try to hold her accountable on this, yet another offense against the good people of Alaska.

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gizmo(21:42:29) :

By the time this election season is over we’ll all have PhD’s in Palintology.

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mudslide pike(21:42:39) :

geezee did I blow that one….lol

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lauren in SD(21:42:39) :

Asian Girl!

Women went to Concordia.. men went to St. Olaf. My great grandfather wrote the introductory letter for Ole Rolvaag to be admitted when he came over from Norway!

Thank god I also have roots with Shattuck/St. Mary’s. Not sure which has kept me grounded.

Maybe none of the above, cause i don’t give a horse’s patoot. But I am over the state line in SD and that is like being in Wyoming. A veces.

My cousins are the Reinertsens at St. Olaf! By any chance, classmates?

NMJ, well crap. Now I feel jerked around ripped off. I want to underline!

strangelet, I think you’re right. It’s odd to see someone in politics with so little real knowledge of herself or of the world around her. Personally, I can only read what she says as she makes me want to kill my computer whenever I hear her talk.

strangelet, now you’re just getting fancy-schmancy on us.

Aussie Blue Sky, apparently, the same as bold.

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asiangrrl"Yes we DID"MN(21:47:14) :

Damn. That didn’t work. I really fscrewed up that time.

Susan in TN, welcome back!

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strangelet(21:47:24) :

ira2 — it’s not elitism, it’s just forty years of math. I can’t look at that hooky thing without thinking “less than”.

If you want a quantum mechanics anecdote (and I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t), Paul Dirac invented a mathematical dialect that used the hooky things (I still can’t them). The less-than, shift-comma, opens-left-to right one that I call LT, he called a “bra”; the other one he called a “ket”.

Who says physicists don’t have a sense of humor?

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asiangrrl"Yes we DID"MN(21:48:15) :

NMJ, well crap. Now I feel jerked around ripped off. I want to underline!

sparkleball, I think you’re right. It’s odd to see someone in politics with so little real knowledge of herself or of the world around her. Personally, I can only read what she says as she makes me want to kill my computer whenever I hear her talk.

strangelet, now you’re just getting fancy-schmancy on us.

Aussie Blue Sky, apparently, the same as bold.

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jwa - Cheney Hussein Palin(21:49:36) :

Why am I up typingHTML tags in the middle of the NIGHT when I should be sleeping?
🙂

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asiangrrl"Yes we DID"MN(21:49:51) :

lauren in SD, it’s been many moons since I graduated. The name doesn’t ring a bell. I am going to bed now because I don’t seem to have any control over my HTML codes. Night, all!

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strangelet(21:50:33) :

Asian, I’m afraid underline may be a tag too far.

Ve vill half to do some research, ya?

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asiangrrl"Yes we DID"MN(21:50:34) :

jwa – Cheney Hussein Palin, because you’re good crazy like the rest of us! Night!

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SMG - MN(21:52:20) :

test

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strangelet(21:52:33) :

Asian, I’m afraid underline may be a tag too far.

Ve vill half to do some research, ya?

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SMG - MN(21:53:14) :

SUCCESS!!
Thanks to all for the help. 🙂

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A Brit Abroad(21:53:33) :

Yay! It’s a lovely thing to roll out of bed in the morning and join the Mudflats, especially with such a positive piece of news…

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strangelet(21:53:45) :

SMG-MN: You’re there.

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WeCan Hussein AKA Sarah "honey bucket" Hussein(21:53:56) :

I was just thinking about Piper’s answers to the reporter. Did anyone else notice they were coherent?????????????? Where’d she learn that! She must be one smart kid to be able to do that, after listening to her mom’s word salad shooter stump speeches these last couple of months.

It will let you set a page you’re viewing to automatically reload at an interval you specify.

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polarbear(22:03:34) :

In the 2008 primary, in the Alaska bush districts, Begich not only outpolled his own opponents but also substantially outpolled Stevens in total votes. Lets hope it happens again.

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strangelet(22:04:05) :

test

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SMG - MN(22:05:35) :

I just may get this rightyet yet.

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SMG - MN(22:08:26) :

Oops. Not quite, but getting there there?

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SMG - MN(22:10:18) :

by jove, I think we’ve got it.Also

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concernedcanadian(22:13:50) :

I can sleep tonight. What a nice lead Begich has! YESSSSSSS!

I have great faith he will pull this off.

Sleep well all you folks out there, and most of all, you great Alaskans chewing your nails. You are the true heros in this election with everyone of your efforts and your headfast, heartfelt ways that you’ve made this what it is tonight. No wonder I feel your enthusiasm, you’ve made it! Cangrats to you, if not for a victory tonight but for everything you’ve done to push you’re great efforts forward for the better of America and the world. You are truly commmended by many people…

I hope you know that!

Thank-you

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GJ in ID(22:15:02) :

Looking to learn something new before I go to bed, too!

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Carol(22:16:21) :

All right! Stevens looks like he’s losing and Sarah can’t run for senator in his place when he would have been removed from the Senate. Great news!!!! May she soon go down into anonymity…. and remain just another historical footnote.

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GJ in ID(22:16:38) :

Is this better? ….testing

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GJ in ID(22:20:14) :

How did you do that? I’m just curious enough to try it.

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GJ in ID(22:21:02) :

Ok, how do I make it stop? make it stop, please.

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GJ in ID(22:22:32) :

Sorry, I’ll stop and go to bed now….blowing out my blue candle.
Have fun Late nigh and early morning Mudpuppies.

Yeah, I am with Brit Abroad – I love making it to the Kitchen before your shift has gone off to bed. Good Morning all!

@Marty:
“Intelligent people like Mit Romney would never have a chance debating the Queen of Circle Talk.”

There I think that you could be wrong, Marty. Dear old Joe Biden started to break the thick wall of verbage in their debate – he called her on a couple of things, he pulled her down on the whole “Maverick” crap – actually left her speechless! And gave actual answers where she just spewed a string of meaningless words which showed the utter meaninglessness of her words.

That left 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling that is Sarah Palin’s speaking/debate skills. Next round : 2012. Romney, Giuliani, Huckabee, Jeb Bush (?) and any and all those Repug women who were overlooked because either less attractive or less right wing than our little Sarah and they all pick up where Joe left off. Believe you me, they won’t be afraid to tread where no man has tread before….

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Aussie Blue Sky(22:27:20) :

Obama enjoyed massive Jewish support, despite controversies

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Barack Obama attracted great support from Jewish voters in his run for the US presidency despite the controversy surrounding the Democrat’s alleged links with Islam, according to political analysts.

Exit polls from the November 4 election indicate that 78 percent of Jewish voters chose Obama over his Republican rival John McCain.

The overwhelming support for Obama, if confirmed by further data, is an increase over Jewish support for Democrat John Kerry in 2004 (74 percent), and almost equal to Jewish support for Democrats Al Gore in 2000 and Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996 (79 percent).

“It is a surprising result,” said Jacques Berlinerblau, an associate professor of Jewish Civilization at Georgetown University in Washington.

The fact that someone like Sarah Palin exists in American politics is the greatest proof yet that there must really be an Illuminati running everything from some Bohemian Grove somewhere? I have never believed in such things, but she really makes you wonder. This is one of the most deluded human beings I have ever seen in life. After seeing her on TV this week, I can see that the narcissistic ego validation loop is growing by leaps and bounds. But I still do not fear her. let her run for President in 2012 and totally destroy the Republican party. If the Democrats can get a completely by-partisan Obama Administration “Unity Government” going through the Great Financial Crisis that is going to become fully manifest within the next three months, and get this nation back to good management of Federal and State Government using the new technologies and by some sober thinking save the economy in a re-think of everything, then many moderate Republicans will find a home in something new. The hyper fundamentalist Christian Republican Party is doomed if the next four years show a new way of effectiveness in government in solving our problems. This is our last chance as a nation. This is it. It is now or never for our children and grandchildren. there will not be a second chance. This is 1932 all over again. Only this time the Internet exists.

The Bush Administration was totally unbelievable. Eight years of total mismanagement of everything it touched. An MBA from Yale and Harvard did not get one single thing right! Nothing. Zero. Nada. Zippo. How is that possible?

The Wall Street crisis has been brewing since 2004. Two years ago something should have been done. One year ago it had ALREADY reached crisis level while we were all distracted by the Primary election process. The Bush Administration did absolutely nothing in an election year until the International Financial System was 24 hours from total panic and meltdown.

This article from Tuesday 11/11/08 on portfolio.com tells you exactly how we got here. It is a very good read.

We must now rethink everything as a nation. Everything. We are facing a Financial Katrina of truly catastrophic proportions.

I have just started praying again in my life for strength for our nation.

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Jamie, Floridian in France(22:38:42) :

OMG! I did bold! A computer idiot like me did bold!! Whoopee! And now I see a NEW THREAD!/

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mhrt oregon(22:39:50) :

i picked up my g-daughter on monday from kindergarten and went through her back pack and she had a map of the USA and in her printing was “yes we can” on the map..she calls our president elect ..Rock Omama….but I think he would be OK with that

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Anonymous(22:40:24) :

by jove, I think we’ve got it. Also

To play with text without having to worry,
whether to be, or whether not to be

To play with text is something not to worry,

BUT,
With a little bit of luck,
With a little bit of luck,
You can do it all and have what you have sought

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strangelet(22:43:34) :

blah blah

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SMR(23:05:04) :

@mhrt —

are you still here on this thread?

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sami stevens(23:15:07) :

@ Hamlet’s Mill – “The Bush Administration was totally unbelievable. Eight years of total mismanagement of everything it touched. An MBA from Yale and Harvard did not get one single thing right! Nothing. Zero. Nada. Zippo. How is that possible?”

A Repub who voted for Bush twice pointed out how smart Bush is because he got an MBA from Harvard. I replied that it was no guarantee of intelligence since we know, having gone to a private school, that there are loads of morons with wealthy, connected parents who got their kids into our alma mater. Repub had to agree it’s true. haha

I cringe to think of what would have transpired if attention was not on this matter. Maybe I’m naive, but is it possible Stevens would have been declared winner? The U.S. is a Super Power like the Power Rangers we as a country purportedley are the most advanced and best in everything.

So why is our election system so jacked up? Fraud is not the exception but the suspected norm, almost. How is it that Diebold can make an atm that never dispenses inaccurate withdrawals but their voting machines breakdown? Huh? What’s going on? I’ve begun to believe that voting is not really desired by the powers that be as evidenced by their lack of due diligence is working this most obvious problem out.

We have quite a few federal holidays…VOTING is not one of them. It’s laughable, really, but makes me want to cry out when I hear stories of voting shenanigans.

The future Senator Begigh, will be resoundingly welcomed by the entire nation, as well as by his electorate in Alaska.
This coming Monday, Alaska and the country will celebrate and welcome it’s newest member to the Senate; Senator Mark Begigh.
I personally together with some friends here in Southern California are planning a small celebration to toast the victory. Join us nation, raise a glass and cheer; TO ALASKA, TO SENATOR MARK BEGIGH.

Unfortunately, I think that SP might have been correct, for the most part, in her statement that the state of Alaska “owns” its oil. Apparently, most of the oil produced in AK is from state-owned lands.

I’ve been watching the progress here and hoping on a hunch that Begich would pull forward, and alas, he has. Like our trusted blogger has written, the chances look good for him by virtue of what districts are left to be counted.

However, as someone who lives in a metro area that is roughly 8 times times the size of Alaska in population, I don’t quite understand how it takes Alaska so long to count all the votes. All of California has been counted, and we are a state with over 36.5 million more times the number of votes to count. Is it lack of technology, or is it lack of labor? Even remotely populated areas must have access to telephonic communication, no? It’s just awfully curious, that’s all.

So, we likely don’t know the final numbers for the contest between McPalin and Obama/Biden either, do we? Can we assume that those who would vote for Begich likely voted for Obama? Or is it only the convict factor that is giving him the current, sudden edge?

I’m so glad Begich is ahead, I have been hoping for Alaskans to prove they will recognize the better candidate, regardless of their traditional political allegiances.

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katek formerly cd(04:39:43) :

Is there a margin by which a recount is inevitable? [as in GA]

This could drag on for quite a while if that’s the case. More votes today for Begich we hope!

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Mike In Illinois(05:20:53) :

To answer Kittyonice, the votes in CA may not really all be counted either. They only count the absentees, for example, if they might affect the outcome of the race. Same for the provisionals. I don’t know about early votes as that is a new thing. The reason we are finding out about the count is that the race is close. Otherwise, to the extent that those votes are even counted, it would be done out of the public eye. I beleive they are still counting votes in CA 4, where it is close. At least they haven’t found any ballots in anyone’s car, as they did in MN. We had that happen in our area once where an elderly election judge went directly home with the entire precinct ballot box and went to bed! They had to call at 1 AM to find out where the missing precinct was and send someone over there to retrieve it!

The real question is why we are still holding elections where people have to show up in person on a work day and where 80 year old election judges are now having to manage computer operated machines.

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Steve D(06:15:46) :

Is it just me or does it seem strange that in the machine counted tally Stevens is ahead, but in the hand counted tally Begich is ahead? Doesn’t that make the Tuesday count of votes even more suspect??

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Steve D(06:18:02) :

Oops!! I should have said, “Doesn’t that make the Tuesday, 11/4, count of votes even more suspect?”

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disgustedfemale(06:22:46) :

All I can say…is my deepest respect for all in alaska.
As I heard KO say last night it was a 3 vote lead….wow that impresses me so much…democracy in action…every vote really does matter and alaska is showing the rest of us just how important voting really is in a democracy!

Keeping my fingers crossed that this count continues to add us and Stevens is gone and Palin does not have the slighest chance of getting in

Your Governor is stating, in a speech that there is no “Present” button in Alaska.

A suggestion: Get one!

Anytime she shows up at the Governor’s mansion in your state Capitol, you could put up a huge “present” button — to show that the Governor of Alaska, really does work in Alaska. That the Governor of Alaska doesn’t campaign full time in the lower 48, she actually does show up from time to time, to govern in Alaska.

She is, from time to time actually “Present.”

I suspect it wouldn’t get much use.

Tv cameras seem to be much more scarce up there, than they are here.

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Mike In Illinois(08:23:02) :

Back to the vote count. The reason that you get different results from the hand count than from the machine is that the machine only reads votes that are cast according to the rules. If you use a pencil that you brought instead of the pen provided, the machine can’t read it. Also, if you made some other mark such as an “X”, or circled the candidate’s name, rather than filled in the oval, it is not read.

People who are first time voters, or who are less educated, or who are older, are more likely to make these kinds of mistakes. To the extent that one candidate may tend to do better with one or more of those groups, that candidate will tend to pick up votes on a hand recount. This is MUCH better than examining chads.

Additionally, first time voters are more likely to have their registration challenged, and have to cast provisional ballots, and certain groups are more prone to changing addresses between elections, also creating registration issues. These tend to be more Democrats so the Dems tend to pick up votes during hand counts and recounts.

The key here is going to be the absentee ballots. I don’t know what they represent. Usually those types of ballots are from older voters and people in the military, and tend to favor Reps. Possibly in AK that may also include people who leave the state and go to Hawaii for the Winter, again mostly Reps. Begich may need a substantial lead going into the absentee count to hold off a surge by the Convicted Felon.

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Jean Recoil Zoo Palin Hussein(09:11:52) :

Doin’ the Snoopy Dance in Illinois! Go Begitch!!!

Today Tim Pawlenty said on NPR that the Repubs need new ideas, but *their values* are absolutely okay! That they need to hang on to the ideas of Reagan (which of course began the end of the Republican Party of Eisenhower).

More Snoopy Dance!

I teach history for a living. I, for one, hope the Repubs *continue* NOT to read/study their own history!

And–as hard as it is for us SANE Mudpups to stomach (for my own personal sanity, I WISH the coverage of SA-RAH! SA-RAH! would just stop :0), the more the press covers her inanities rather the *smarter* minds gathered in Miami (there *are* some!), the longer they will continue to lose elections…….

Visit my blog at http://www.oneangryzebra.blogstream.com
Quick question(s) – What is Alaska law on replacing Steven’s if he still might be able to beat Mayor Begich? I thought that Governor Palin had to call a “special
election” like we do here in Indiana. Now, I learn that she can appoint a successor. Can she name herself as that successor? And, who does that have to be confirmed with? The legislature?
My personal opinion – Sarah Palin has no business in national politics……

Sarge
Indianapolis

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knikgoose Hussein justaskin(18:17:07) :

Oh, it would be sooo cool if Mark makes it!
And it will make us all wonder how many previous elections should have been recounts!
Go Begich!